Travel Tip: Art and Archaeology in NigeriaHaving Travelled Far

Godfried Donkor: Browning Madonna, 2004Collage on paper64x48cm

Having Travelled FarNIGERIALAGOS • Omenka Gallery • Ongoing

Having Traveled Far aims to stimulate the Lagos exhibition circuit, while encouraging cross-fertilization of ideas between African artists who define their practices on the continent and those in diaspora.

This exhibition, held in collaboration with German-based gallery, Artco, features 5 well-known contemporary African artists all of whom are based in Germany; Kwesi Owusu-Ankomah (b. 1956), Godfried Donkor (b. 1964), Manuela Sambo (b. 1964), EL Loko (b. 1950), and Ransome Stanley (b. 1953); who bears the singular distinction of being born in the diaspora.

Among the five artists selected for this show, only Godfried Donkor focuses entirely on mixed-media collages. Here, his collages combine symbols of the 18th century slave trade with images of Trinidadian girls placed on a background fashioned from the pages of newspapers like the Financial Times – a metaphor for the commercialization of people, a theme that runs through his oeuvre. His work, Gaming Room at Devonshire House is a subtle variation of slave trade. Here, the male figure is seen to be sparring with a white man. This particular activity can be traced to the plantation owners who often exploited the able bodied slaves in entertainment.